Cultuurnetwerk.nl

1. AN INSTRUMENT FOR EVERY CHILD
STEPHAN PROPHET (GERMANY)
CHAIR: JAN JAAP KNOL

By 2010, all 43,000 first-year primary-school pupils in the Ruhr region will be given an opportunity to learn a musical instrument. The programme – Jedem Kind ein Instrument (An Instrument for Every Child) – supplements the current music education curriculum in primary schools and automatically includes all the pupils in the schools that have signed up for the scheme.

The main goal is to provide all children with the same opportunities. In their first year the pupils get acquainted with melodies, rhythms, beats and notes and learn to recognize sixteen different instruments including the violin, the guitar and the trumpet. In their second school year, they can borrow their chosen instrument free of charge for lessons and for practising at home. Tuition in the third and fourth year consists of lessons in small groups and making music together in the Ensemble Kunterbunt (Potpourri Ensemble).

At the moment, 56 music schools in the Ruhr region are working together with 522 primary schools. Music-school and primary-school teachers are teaming up to teach a total of 27,700 first-year pupils. The programme is expanding all the time.

The Ministry believes that this initiative will provide further opportunities for empirical pedagogic research in music education. A research programme was therefore started in April 2009 to explore the relationships between various professionalization strategies, teaching arrangements and teaching characteristics and to observe the effects of music teaching on families, classes and schools.

2. VISITING ARTIST PROGRAMME FOR SCHOOLS AND INSTITUTIONS (VAPSI)
MARTIN VIVE IVØ (DENMARK)
CHAIR: BARBARA NEUNDLINGER (AUSTRIA)

Since 2004 the Visiting Artist Programme for Schools and Institutions (VAPSI) has been the Danish Arts Council's most important support scheme for children and young adults. More than 15,000 children and young adults are given a chance to encounter and experience high-level art on a daily basis – both as participants and as spectators. The children and the young adults gain insight into how professional artists work and think and try themselves to be part of an artistic, creative process.

Under the VAPSI scheme one or more professional artists from the fields of music, literature, visual arts or performing arts can work at day-care centres and schools for a period of time. The artist may be a writer who can create stories with the children or a musician from a classical ensemble who meets the children or young adults at their own level to create and play new tunes together.

The Danish Arts Council has so far supported 638 VAPSI projects. Each project has created a unique opportunity for children and young adults all over the country to engage with genuine and inspiring art. The entire programme was evaluated in December 2008 by an independent consultancy firm. According to the results, 97% of the participating artists, teachers, educationalists and municipal culture consultants regarded the scheme as either successful or very successful.

3. EUROPEAN PROJECT ON THE FORMULATION OF COMPETENCES FOR MUSIC TEACHERS AND MUSICIANS
ADRI DE VUGT, (THE NETHERLANDS)
CHAIR: MARTIN PRCHAL (THE NETHERLANDS)

Two European associations in music education have been developing sets of competences for musicians and music teachers at European level. The European Association of Conservatoires (AEC) started this work several years ago by developing a set of competences for musicians to be achieved at the end of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd study cycles in higher education.

The European Association of Music in Schools (EAS) then developed a similar set of competences for specialized music teachers in schools. At present, the AEC is also developing a set of competences for instrument and vocal teachers, which will be closely aligned to the existing set of competences for musicians and will reflect current trends in the music profession, whereby professionals are becoming increasingly involved in educational activities in various settings. These sets of competences will lead to more efficient comparisons between and recognition of higher music education programmes in Europe and will support curriculum development in institutes of higher music education.

This work has been carried out on the basis of an in-depth analysis of the latest developments in the music and music-education professions in various European countries.
This workshop will explain the rationale, working process and results of these European-level developments and will be followed by a discussion among the participants.

Parallel sessions – cultural perspective

4. DIALOGUE EVENTS
BARBARA NEUNDLINGER (AUSTRIA)
CHAIR: BRECHT DEMEULENAERE (BELGIUM)

KulturKontakt Austria acts as an interface between the arts and education and supports innovative cultural education projects, initiatives and methods in the schools sector on behalf of the Federal Ministry for Education, the Arts and Culture. Under the auspices of Dialogue Events (DE) – the largest additional cultural education programme in Austrian schools – KulturKontakt Austria supports and advises small projects and workshops run by artists within the regular school curriculum.

These projects, based on mutual participation and communication, are being realized in all arts categories and all types of schools in Austria. The Austrian Federal Ministry for Education, the Arts and Culture has supported DE for over 30 years, during which time some 3.3 million children and young adults have participated in over 63,000 Dialogue Events. Every year, over 150,000 children and young adults get a chance to experience cultural education firsthand at more than 3,300 DEs.

KulturKontakt Austria does not provide special training for the artists or teachers as this takes place at the educational institutes, but it does offer tailor-made coaching and support for teachers who want to set up arts and cultural education projects at their own school. Artists are also given advice on how to develop process-oriented creative workshops and school projects within the school curriculum. Finally KulturKontakt Austria provides financial support for these kind of projects.

5. ART ACTIVITIES FOR CHILDREN AND CULTURAL CAPITAL (CZECH REPUBLIC)
KATEŘINA DOLEŽALOVÁ NIPOS (CZECH REPUBLIC)
CHAIR: MARIJKE VERDOODT (BELGIUM)

The results of a five-year sociology research programme funded by the National Information and Consulting Centre for Culture (NIPOS, Ministry of Culture) can considerably strengthen the argument for the further implementation of arts education in schools. In 2003-2007 a group of 2,200 children who participated in five different art domains (modern dancing, folk dancing, choir, drama, fine arts) were compared with a control group of 300 children who did not. The hypothesis was that systematic communal art activities can provide a child with lifelong 'cultural capital', i.e. a set of competences, knowledge and skills, which will also exercise a positive influence on his/her social capital. The statistical analysis indicated a higher degree of cultural capital among the research group. The activities exerted a positive influence on lifestyle, socialization and creativity.

WHEN CULTURE COMES KNOCKING ON THE SCHOOL DOOR (SWEDEN)
ULLA WIKLUND, RIKSKONSERTER (SWEDEN)

Sweden has been investing in efforts and initiatives relating to culture and aesthetics in schools for decades. Aesthetic learning processes challenge conventional methods of teaching and learning. In Sweden the development of a school is often a question of approving the Art Education.

Concerts Sweden, Rikskonserter, is a national foundation that annually arranges around 40 tours and 700 concerts with programmes consisting mainly of classical music, jazz and folk music. The foundation aims to promote live music throughout the country.

Ulla Wiklund describes current theories and practice relating to 'aesthetic learning' or arts education and discusses ways of going forward. Wiklund is the initiator of a teacher/artist training initiative, called Tonspråk, or Tone Language, which is based on a collaboration between Concerts Sweden, regional musical agencies, universities etc. The initiative started as a complementary response to the Creative Schools programme by the Swedish government.

6. GIFTS OF THE MUSES; WHEN ARTISTS REVIVE AN ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXHIBITION IN MUSEUMS AND SCHOOLS
STELLA CHRYSSOULAKI (GREECE )
CHAIR: JOOST KUGGELEIJN (THE NETHERLANDS)

This initiative is a good example of a practical project based on cultural education from a classical perspective. 'Gifts of the Muses; Music and Dance in Ancient Greece' was an archaeological exhibition that was held in museums in Brussels and in Berlin in 2003 to mark the Greek Presidency of the European Union. The exhibition was accompanied by an educational programme and a teacher's kit in five languages (Greek, English, French, German and Dutch) to enable pupils and teachers across Europe to learn more about the world of Ancient Greece through music and dance, which was interpreted as intangible cultural heritage.

The exhibitions and the educational programme were enriched with concerts, festivals, Greek dance classes, visits to museums and other activities that took place in museums, schools and cultural centres in Brussels and in Germany. It was a highly successful project with a European dimension that serves as an excellent example of an all-inclusive collaboration between artists, schools and cultural institutions.